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Liberated Denizens of King Self, Rejoice!

I am a recovering compulsive overeater, abstinent by the grace of God one more* day at a time. †

In the interest of my health and sanity, I slept in today. I needed rest more than anything else, and prayed about it in advance, with a firm belief that I was doing the right thing for my mind, body and spirit. I will try to make up the time missed in the gym, but I will not forfeit my sanity over it.

“Soon I began to treat myself like others were treating me. The miracle was happening. Through being loved, I am now able to love myself.”

This statement convicted me of the importance of being present and lovingly involved in meetings and elsewhere. If we represent the only love a hurting soul ever sees, we need to be diligent about being loving, accepting, and encouraging, especially in circles where we share a common pain, but at all times, in all our affairs. We who are recovering from a disease characterized by hopelessness and despair, know better than most that the one we encourage just may represent a life saved.

“6 An evil man is snared by his own sin,
but a righteous one can sing and be glad.”

There is one among my fellowship who often translates the word “evil” as “self-serving” or “selfish.” With that understanding, both halves of this verse fit me more comfortably under different circumstances. I presume I am not unique in being slow to apply the word “evil” to my own character, but the reality is that is what I have been. The condition of the evil described in this verse testifies to that. Thank God for the freedom that He has brought me!

Verses 30-33 of this chapter tell me that, while the historical reference here is the story of Judah and Israel, the prophetic reference is the global apocalypse and the Day of God’s ultimate judgment. The first half of the chapter refers specifically to the seventy years of Babylonian exile for the nation of Israel, after which the children of God will be restored to their inheritance and their captors punished. God’s wrath was to be poured out on account of the refusal of His people to submit to His Word. I find the condition of man’s rebellion and my own diseased living written in the words of Jeremiah:

“4 And though the Lord has sent all his servants the prophets to you again and again, you have not listened or paid any attention. 5 They said, ‘Turn now, each of you, from your evil ways and your evil practices, and you can stay in the land the Lord gave to you and your fathers for ever and ever. 6 Do not follow other gods to serve and worship them; do not provoke me to anger with what your hands have made. Then I will not harm you.’

7 ‘But you did not listen to me,’ declares the Lord, ‘and you have provoked me with what your hands have made, and you have brought harm to yourselves.’”

“The less people tolerated us, the more we withdrew from society, from life itself. As we became subjects of King Alcohol, shivering denizens of his mad realm, the chilling vapor that is loneliness settled down. It thickened, ever becoming blacker.”

(From OA’s Invitation to You: “The OA recovery program is patterned after that of Alcoholic Anonymous. We use AA’s Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions, changing only the words ‘alcohol’ and ‘alcoholic’ to ‘food’ and ‘compulsive overeater.'”)